Book Collection

How's this for a sweet item in your book collection? It's George Washington's copy of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding. It was in Herbert Hoover's book collection.

Two Months

In the past two months, I have organized a conference with five outside speakers, organized an additional eight talks outside of the conference, given five talks myself, attended six conferences, supervised my first dissertation defense, DJ-ed twice, supervised the music for a French-themed party, visited DC five separate times, spent the night in fourteen different cities (in four different countries), and led adventure days in Long Island and London.

Hamburg Inn No. 2 (Iowa City)

Had a burger today at the Hamburg Inn in Iowa City, which is regularly listed as one of the best burgers in the States. Fairly simple burger, with almost nothing on it, so it was all about the patty. Cooked thoroughly through, it almost had a crunchy exterior (which is something I like). My favorite patty in that regard--the one that best achieves the perfect combo of crunchy exterior and juicy interior--is still the one at Phillips Grocery in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

Office Space

Saw this in the dog section at LL Bean yesterday. Which came first, Innotek or Initech?

Currywurst

I first had currywurst last fall, when Mike R. and I went to a new place in the East Village. Here's a currywurst I had in Cologne. The Cologne one was spicier (due to the spicy curry ketchup) though the sausage itself seemed more like a hot dog (not in a bad way). The beer in the background was the best Kolsch that I had on my trip, mainly because it actually had some flavor and was less bland than the others.

The Beach Boys

Saw several of these tags around Cologne and Bonn.

The Smell of Los Angeles

"I smelled Los Angeles before I got to it. It smelled stale and old like a living-room that had been closed too long. But the coloured lights fooled you. The lights were wonderful. There ought to be a monument to the man who invented neon lights. Fifteen stories high, solid marble. There's a boy who really made something out of nothing."
(Philip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister, 1949)